Indaver, a leading player in the European waste industry, and INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, have signed an offtake agreement today giving INEOS Styrolution access to styrene monomer (“SM”) produced from post-consumer waste at Indaver’s planned depolymerisation plant.
This agreement closes the loop towards a circular economy for polystyrene. It will enable INEOS Styrolution to produce polystyrene from recycled feedstock replacing styrene monomer produced from fossil feedstock.
“The benefits are tremendous”, explains Dr. Alexander Glück., President EMEA at INEOS Styrolution. “We recognize plastics waste as a valuable resource that must not end up in landfill or be incinerated. Together with Indaver we reduce waste, we produce polystyrene with identical properties as the virgin material with a lower CO2 footprint and we reduce the use of fossil feedstock.”
With the recycled polystyrene meeting stringent food grade specifications, an old dream has finally come true: The material that has been used to preserve food can be recycled and used for the same purpose again.
“We are very pleased with this agreement”, says Paul de Bruycker, CEO at Indaver. “Our companies share the same vision of a true circular economy for polystyrene. The material is eminently suitable to allow for depolymerisation, an advanced recycling method that we deploy in our new recycling plant.”
The depolymerisation technology allows to recycle polystyrene by converting it back into its building block, styrene monomer. Thanks to this process, the recycled material can meet the strict food contact standards. This significantly expands the possibilities for recycling, including polystyrene waste that could previously only be used for conversion into low-value applications.
Being a strong player in the waste industry, Indaver is well positioned to create and manage the required waste streams for polystyrene. The company’s new plant will be based in Antwerp, Belgium and start production in 2024.